The fabled monasteries of Meteora and a day trip to Corfu

Ioannina is the capital of the Epirus region in Northern Greece.
The small city is home to around 120.000 people and stretches along the shores of the lake Pamvotis.
The old city center is defined by the Ottoman building style, due to the long rule of the empire in Epirus, which only came to an end during the first Balkan war in 1912.

When we arrived in the early afternoon on Sunday, the whole population of the city seemed to be out and about, strolling along the lake shore, flocking to the terraces of the cafes and restaurants, soaking up the first rays of sunshine anyone had seen for days.

The most noteworthy buildings in the city are the city walls, which encircle the old center, and the castle. The present fortifications largely date back to the late Ottoman period, but some Byzantine elements are still present.

The tomb of Ali Pasha and one of his wifes

Probably the most famous inhabitant of the castle was Ali Pasha, a bandit and rebel who turned into on of the most powerful and influential rulers in the Ottoman empire.

But only until he was mortally wounded in a gun fight and beheaded for good measure in 1822.

After sitting out a couple of mostly rainy days in which we couldn`t do all that much, some short walks in the city, a 30km bike ride around the lake, lots of reading, we headed for Kalambaka, better known as the home of the world famous Meteora monasteries.

A brief dry spell; our spot right on the lake was pretty nice.

Making the most of it; a quick bike ride around the lake

Great resting place

It all started in the 12th Century with a handful of Orthodox Christian hermits, leading ascetic lives in cave dwellings accessible only by ladders. They lived in the strange rock formations close to what is the town of Kalambaka today.

How these rocks were formed is as much a mystery as the Egyptian pyramids. Of course, there are theories, the most accepted one by a German geologist, but you might as well go with Greek mythology: during a fight Zeus had with the Titans and and the Olympian gods, he used Hecantonchires (giants with hundred hands) to throw huge rocks at the Titans - presto!

But back to the hermits. The became organized soon enough and founded the first monastery of Meteora around 1340.

By the 16th Century, there were 24 in total, all of them precariously perched on top of the rocks.

During the 17th Century the monasteries fell on hard times due to high taxation and raids by Albanian Muslims.
Then, in the 18th Century, European explorers "discovered" Meteora and made its existence public back home.
And finally, in 1988, Meteora was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Today, only six monasteries are left, four of them occupied by monks, two by nuns. All of them can be visited.

As you might guess, my human left me down in town and instead of driving up there, as almost all people do, she hiked up the hillside and walked from one to the next, enjoying the spectacular views along the way.

Agia Triada

You see the little supply cabin moving over the chasm to the left? Pretty neat!

Aghios Stephanos

Kalambaka

As we had wished for, it was a much better day weather-wise than all the previous ones, at least until the afternoon.

It was worth waiting for, since this really is a pretty cool place to visit. The enormity of having built those monasteries in the places they are at, with hardly any machinery, just manual labor by the monks, is pretty mindboggling.
Not to mention the beautiful surrounding scenery.

Four of the six monasteries in one picture; Aghios Nicholaos Anapafsas to the far left

Rousanou

The Holy Monastery of Varlaam in front, Megalou Meteoron in the back

This parchment is from the 14th Century

Read this and see if you want to change places

This is how people got up there in the old days before roads and stairs

A very old 12.000 liter oaken wine barrel

The more pleasurable part of being a monk

You can see one of the nets the used to bring people and supplies up to the left, the winch in the middle

Varlaam

Also Varlaam, maybe our favorite

Megalou Meteoron

Why build a whole house when you can just build one wall to close off a cave?

We left Kalambaka, nice little town, by the way, the next day to drive to the Tzoumerka National Park, where my human went on a hike to the Kouiassa Waterfalls, starting in pretty good weather.

She got back three hours later, having stoically walked through hail and rain for the last hour. What else could she have done?

Still a nice hike, tough, she said.

I was feeling well taken care off; after some treats this guy wouldn`t leave my side. Until it hailed.

So far, so good

Not what we signed up for!

There are a few interesting mountains in the area, but their summits are all over 2000 meters. And since there is no desire to repeat the "white out" experience from last week, we sadly left them behind in my review mirrors and headed for Igoumenitsa, our first stop on the coast.

The port city on the West coast, very close to the Albanian border, is not exactly a beauty, but a very busy town due to the many ferry connections to Italy, Albania and Corfu, besides others.

This is why West coasts are the best

After spending an afternoon strolling along the promenade and through the streets of the small city, enjoying the sun and warm temperatures, my human headed over to Corfu the next day, to have a look around the city giving the island its name. Or is it the other way round?

The ferry ride was just under two hours and the weather was wonderful, no rain cloud in sight. And that`s how it would stay all day, dry and sunny.

Due to its geographical importance, forming the margin of Greece´s northwestern frontier, Corfu has a rich and colorful history full of battles, conquests and invasions.

From medieval times well into the 17th Century, the island was part of the Republic of Venice. As such, it repulsed several attacks and survived a number of sieges by the Ottoman Empire and in the course became on of the most fortified places in Europe.

And that`s why there isn`t just one fortress, the old one, ...

..., but two, here the new one

The influences of Venice are very obvious to this day and can be seen all over the beautiful city. If you`d put in some canals, one could almost think...